Safety-brake for children s carriages



(No Model) J. PARRET T & O. E. POGG. SAFETY BRAKE FOR CHILDRENS GARRIAGES.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES PARRETT AND CHARLES E. FOGG, OF IVENONA, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY-BRAKE FOR CHILDRENS CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 583,079, dated May 25, 1897. Application filed May 19,1896. Serial No. 592,221. (no model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES PARRETI' and CHARLES E. FOGG, citizens of the United States, residing at Wenona, in the county of Marshall and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Automatic Safety-Brake for Childrens Carriages, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic safetybrakes for childrens carriages; and it has for its object to provide a new and useful device of this character having simple and positive means for automatically braking or chocking a childs carriage at the instant the attendant releases his or her hold from the handle of the carriage, thereby obviating the many accidents which frequently occur in connection with childrens carriages running oif sidewalks and the like.

To this end the main and primary object of the present invention is to so construct a brake for childrens carriages that the same will be inoperative during the time that the attendant grasps the handle of the carriage, but which will quickly and automatically engage with one of the wheels of the carriage when the hold of. the attendant on the handle is released.

With these and other objects in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a childs carriage equipped with the herein-described improvement. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a portion of a childs carriage equipped with the herein-described brake device. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the brake proper. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail elevation of the hand device for controlling the brake.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 designates the body of a childs carriage supported over the rear axle 2 in the usual manner, and said axle 2' carries at its opposite ends the usual spoked wheels 3. The carriage is further provided with the rearwardly and upwardly extended handle-bars 4, which are connected at their outer ends at the rear of the carriage by the usual pushhandle or propelling-bar 5, which is grasped by the hand of the attendant propelling the carriage.

The brake mechanism contemplated by the present invention is designed in the nature of an attachment which can be readily attached to and detached from one of the handle-bars of the carriage, and referring particularly to the invention the numeral 6 designates a tubular bolt-casin g which is detachably bolted to one side of one of the handlebars 4, at the inner side of one of the wheels 3, by means of a clamp 7. The clamp 7 is adjustably fitted to one of the handle-bars 4 and is provided with a pair of eyebolts 8, located, respectively, at opposite sides of said handle-bar and receiving therein the tubular casing 6, whereby the tightening of the clamp will provide for firmly binding the said casing in a horizontal position against one side of one of the handle-bars and adjacent to the inner side of one of the wheels 3 of the carriage. The tubular horizontally-disposed adjustable bolt-casin g 6 accommodates for movement therein a sliding brake-bolt 9. The sliding brake-bolt 9 is provided at its outer end with an enlarged rubber or similar tip 10, that is designed to be projected between the spokes of the adjacent wheel 3 for the purpose of braking or chocking said wheel without marring or injuring the same.

The sliding brake-bolt 9 is supported to work in suitable guides 11, formed with the tubular casing, and within said casing is confined an adjusting-spring 12, coiled on the bolt?) and bearing-at one end against one of the bolt-guides 11 and at its other end against the pin 13, fitted in the bolt 9. The spring 12 normally tends to move the bolt 9 outward, so as to engage the same with the adjacent wheel of the carriage, and the extreme inner end of the said bolt has attached thereto one end of a light pull-cable 14, arranged to pass around a guide roller or pulley 15, mounted in the extreme inner end of the tubular cas ing 6.

The cable leads from its point of connection with the inner end of the brake-bolt to the lower end of an oscillating adj usting-lever 16, arranged to work at the inner side of one of the handle-bars 4, adjacent to the pushhandle 5. The oscillating lever 16 is pivotally mounted intermediate of its ends on the pivot-pin 17, projected from the inner side of an adjustable clip or clamp 18, adjustably fitted to the handlebars. lhe oscillating adj usting-lever 16 is projected integrally from one end of an elongated hand-grasp 19, and is disposed substantially at right angles thereto. The elongated hand grasp 19 is semitubular in cross-section and lies parallel with the push-handle or propelling-bar 5 of the carriage, and extends a sufficicnt portion of the length of said push-handle 5, so as to be in the best possible position for being grasped naturally, as the attendant grasps the push-handle of the carriage for propelling the same. Normally the elongated semitubular hand-grasp l0 lies slightly above and parallel with the push-handle, but when the attendant grasps the handle and the handgrasp 19 the latter is depressed and swings the lower end of the lever 16 in an upward direction, which, through the medium of the light cable 14, causes the bolt 9 to be withdrawn out of engagement with the adjacent wheel of the carriage. Vhen the push-handle 5, and therefore the hand-grasp 19, is released, the spring 12 immediately shoots the brake-bolt outward into engagement with the wheel of the carriage and immediately prevents the carriage from rolling of its own aecord.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

In a safety-brake for childrens carriages, the combination of a horizontally-arranged tubular bolt-easing provided at its inner end with a guide roller or pulley and fitted against one side of one of the handle-bars of the carriage, a clamp essentially comprising a pair of connected eyebolts receiving said tubular casing and respectively located at opposite sides of the handle-bar against which the easing is fitted, a spring-projected brake-bolt mounted to slide within the casing, and provided at its outerend with a flexible tip adapted to engage between the spokes of one of the wheels, a light pull-cable attached at one end to the inner end of said bolt, and a handgrasp arranged parallel with the push-handle and provided with a lever extension pivotally mounted on one of the handle-bars and connected at its lower end with said pull-cable, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES PARRELT. CHARLES E. FOGG.

\Vltnesses:

\V. 13. KEMP, P. BECKWITH. 

